i've posted before about my ongoing gastrointestinal issues and the various failed attempts to figure out what was causing them and how to fix them. this is the latest.
i've been working with a trainer for a couple of years on and off, first at my gym and then at home. my GI issues have affected our work together a lot because i frequently have to cut our workouts short or cancel them altogether. so we've talked a lot about nutrition and non–workout-related health stuff, and she's been recommending to me that i see her friend leah, a nutritional counselor. i don't know why i didn't do it sooner, but i guess it just felt like a luxury, or like it wouldn't work, or like it would be too scary and unfamiliar.
finally, though, i contacted leah. we met for the first time last week, and i really liked what she had to say. although she's way healthier than i've ever dreamed of being, she has a lot of my same less-than-perfect habits: eating while working on the couch, getting into a working zone and not remembering to get up and move. she listened to my stories about the botched colonoscopy and the ridiculous pretense of an elimination diet and the ways in which my symptoms have affected my work and social life. i felt like she had a plan and one that would work with my picky eating, emotional eating, and everything else.
so i signed up for a six-month run, and we had our first real meeting yesterday. she came to the house and looked at all the food we have, talked with me for a long time about what i eat and don't eat or don't like, looked at the physical setup (where we eat on the sofa, the multiple refrigerators and freezers, pantry), and went over the beginnings of the plan with me. the plan starts with a cleanse next week—not a lemon + cayenne pepper thing, but a gentle elimination diet, with the goal of eliminating foods that commonly trigger sensitivities and allergies, letting my system rest for a few months, gradually reintroducing new ingredients, and adjusting my palate (to stop the cravings and addiction and bad habits of high sugar and fat). we officially start next thursday, when she'll meet me at whole foods and help me shop and then show me some recipes. she had me get a pressure cooker, and i am looking forward to her new smoothie recipes for my beloved vitamix blender.
anyway, big changes starting, and i'm nervous but excited. i started this morning with a wheat- and dairy-free breakfast of oat-bran cereal with raisins, a naked smoothie (still higher in sugar than what she'd like, but i think okay until we officially start?) (edited because i got further through the start-up instructions and saw that juices are a no-no for me right now, so the one sip i had of that smoothie before reading that part will be it for today), and ice water mixed with a little luna vitamin powder and magnesium.
wish me luck. if i can feel better, it'll be worth it.
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